Neil Young's new album. I haven't even listen to it yet, but it gets my vote for best liner notes of the year. :(
have you listened...? it's really a great album
Yes and yes. :(
what is in the liner notes?
This album is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!
..yeah i got this yesterday....brilliant work..
Neil Young Tour Powered by Vegetable Oil
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Neil Young wants to talk about vegetable oil.
It would be reasonable to expect that the rock 'n' roll veteran has more pressing matters on his mind -- he's just launched a month-long concert tour to complement the theatrical release of "Greendale," his first film in 22 years.
But for anyone familiar with the project's storyline, which tackles such weighty subjects as religious warfare, corporate duplicity, the erosion of privacy and the destruction of natural resources, it will come as no surprise that its creator is eager to discuss not merely the tour itself but the tour's means of transportation.
"I have 17 diesel vehicles, and they're all running on vegetable oil farmed by American farmers," Young, one of the founders of the annual Farm Aid charity concerts, said in a recent interview with Reuters.
Traveling cross-country in that biodiesel caravan with Young are his longtime backing band Crazy Horse and a troupe of friends and family, most of whom are reprising roles they created in the film. In Young's visionary slant on contemporary Americana, they play the residents of an invented California town.
With its rural setting and "down-home" people, Young said, "Greendale" is "almost like Disney at first. It's pretty mellow." But there's a decidedly non-Disney resonance to the fictional story's events -- murder, civil disobedience, FBI surveillance and media voyeurism.
OLD MAN TAKE A LOOK AT MY LIFE
"You can read about it in any paper; it's happening right now," Young said. "They're real people. And they're being affected by what's going on."
Emblematic of that is the character of Grandpa, the outspoken patriarch of the Green family. Cutting to the heart of the matter with folksy and incisive observations, he's struck a chord with American concert audiences.
"He's having a rough time," Young said. "The whole thing that he believed in is breaking down." Young senses that, like Grandpa, his U.S. audiences "don't like America to not be free. They don't like all of this behind-the-scenes stuff," he added, referring to the Patriot Act, a controversial tool in the U.S. government's war on terror.
Young said he supported the act until he saw how it was being implemented. "It gives people who are shown to be untrustworthy -- and unworthy of having power -- way too much power."
But for all the bleak issues that "Greendale" confronts, it's not hopelessness that prevails but a powerful sense of renewal, with 18-year-old protagonist Sun Green (Sarah White) finding her voice as an artist and protester.
"I believe in youth," Young said. "It's eternally going to wash away all of the sins and start over again. It is the great thing that happens."
Young, whose four-decade career has been characterized by faithfulness to his muse rather than slavishness to audience expectations, didn't set out to create a self-described "musical novel."
MULTIMEDIA APPROACH
He followed his instincts to new ground, and "Greendale" has evolved into a multimedia composition that includes the film and concert/stage show, plus two editions of a CD/DVD set, a book to be published in the spring and an intricately detailed Web component (http://www.neilyoung.com), complete with the Green family tree and character profiles.
Performing "Greendale's" 10-song cycle last summer in a solo acoustic tour of Europe, before the album was released, Young prefaced the numbers with explanations of the events linking them, adding and refining details with each telling. The introductions sometimes ran longer than the songs themselves and possessed a vivid visual sense.
"When the story of Greendale came out in the music and I finished the record, that's when it struck me that we could make a film," Young said.
He experimented with dialogue for a long-form video, and found the juxtaposition of dramatic scenes and band performances "no good." But director Bernard Shakey (Young's nom de film) saw "an otherworldly quality" in the acted sequences. He continued working with his cast -- among them Young's wife, Pegi -- who lip-synced to the album's tracks.
Self-distributed by Young's own Shakey Pictures, the film is set to be shown in at least 40 cities so far.
it's fantastic, I love the dvd that comes with it
Quote from: rustinglassit's fantastic, I love the dvd that comes with it
Yeah, I too bad his concerts were so exspensive. The one that comes with the album is from a concert in Ireland, right?
Anyway, the people I know who went to see him last time he played in Denmark said that it was a fantastic concert. He was alone with his guitar and before the concert people were told to be quiet and be excactly on time.
I saw him in 2001 with Crazy Horse, but I believe that's a different experience as oppose to him alone with his acustic guitar.
I adore it...love the fact that it's one big story. Though, I got the DVD-less version :(
I read a review of the movie adaptation at aintitcool...It sounded interesting. As it says in the Reuters article, they'd basically just filmed the entire album, visualizing the lyrics, with the music as the score.
greendale trailer
http://www.shakeypictures.com/trailer_wmhigh.html
why do they have to load trailers with reviews quotes?
Looks beautiful. Gotta love: "A town coming to you soon".
I saw it this afternoon (the movie). As a collection of music videos, which it essentiall is, it works, and I really liked how thecharacters spoke the lyrics. The problem with it is that the movie depicts exactly what he's singing about in the songs, while the song is playing, so that it becomes rather overbearing -- the songs are narrative enough all by themsleves. It's very admirable, but it gets way too preachy at times. For Neil Young fans only (and I'm a fan, but I think a lot of these songs are sorta mediocre -- but maybe it's because I didn't hear them before I saw the movie.
dvd
http://www.neilyoung.com/trailer.html
I loved this movie. And I didn't really expect to.
There's an absolutely unique sense of absurd humor and unironic and genuinely heartfelt character building. It really was great.
It's a little messy and grungy, but that's what Neil Young is... and it's perfect. Overall, it was actually very well put together... nicely edited. And I think the Super-8 is beautiful.
I agree about the music sounding subpar, but it's probably non-melodic because of the all the psuedo-dialogue. There are some really really wonderful lines.
The second to last chapter is very powerful...
JB, that post in the ebert thread reminded me of this...and damn, greendale awesome..............
but i wanted to get some opinions from neil young fans about what i should purchase next.............here is what i own so far....
-sleeps w/ angels
-tonights the night
-unplugged
-american stars and bars
-after the gold rush
-silver and gold
-live rust
-harvest moon
-greendale
-ragged glory
-decade
-harvest
-freedom
-mirrorball
..i was thinking for my next purchase either to be ...
-on the beach
-zuma
-comes a time
what would you guys suggest?
and i know this sounds cliched buit my fav song by NY is like a hurricane...and the unplugged version is so damn wicked............
everybody knows this is nowhere
...it's my favorite album of his
on the beach
Quote from: meatwadeverybody knows this is nowhere
...it's my favorite album of his
yeah i've really only heard After the Gold Rush, Harvest and this but i love them all.
pedro, mod, and meat, thanks for the advice i picked up both of them last week.
ok, here is my collection...
everybody knows this is nowhere
after the goldrush
harvest
on the beach
tonights the night
zuma
american stars 'n bars
live rust
ragged glory
freedom
weld
harvest moon
unplugged
sleeps with angels
mirrorball
silver an dgold
greendale
i was think about picking up his debut and also, comes a time.
anyone have other suggestions or do i have all of his good shit?